Weekly ForceCast: May 20, 2011
This week we welcome filmmaker Spencer Susser to talk about his new film Hesher, and his experiences on the set of Episode II: Attack of the Clones. We also catch up on the latest news coming out of Orlando on the eve of the revamped Star Tours launch, Star Tours - The Adventures Continue. Plus, Ewan McGregor rings up a UK radio show on May the 4th, Billy Dee meets the Queen of Soul, and EU kooks call for the death of Luke Skywalker. Guests *Spencer Susser (Director of Hesher) *Scarlett Litton (StarTours2Live.com) Topics *An emailer confirms that the Star Wars tune played at the Royal Wedding was the Main Theme. Discussion shifts to Star Wars-themed weddings including Cris Macht's, and Jason reads another email where a listener describes his Star Wars wedding. *As part of a follow-up to last week's show, where Jimmy said that Hayden Christensen didn't smoke, Jason reads several listeners' Facebook comments that pointed to pictures of Hayden smoking. This confirmed what Jason and last week's guest, Jamie Benning, had been saying. Jason then played a Star Wars anti-smoking mashup that included portions of an old R2-D2/C-3PO anti-smoking promo and clips of Hayden's Star Wars dialog. *Ewan McGregor called into Chris Evans' British morning radio show to wish the hosts and audience a happy May The Fourth. He also talked about auditioning for The Phantom Menace and the fact that he's never been to Skywalker Ranch. *Billy Dee Quote of the Week **Aretha Franklin's latest album featured Williams in one of the songs. He sung provocative love lyrics such as "I want to kiss your mouth." *Filmmaker Spencer Susser joins Jason and Jimmy. He's the director of the new feature film Hesher, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, and Rainn Wilson. In addition to a trash compactor reference in Hesher, Susser has several other connections to Star Wars. He came up with the idea for the mockumentary R2-D2: Beneath the Dome while interviewing Ewan McGregor about the difficulties of working with R2 on set. He was also part of the team that produced the Episode II DVD documentary From Puppets to Pixels: Pixels: Digital Characters in 'Episode II'. *Jason and Jimmy then talk to Scarlett from StarTours2Live.com about the launch of Star Tours - The Adventures Continue, which debuts at Disney's Hollywood Studios on May 20th (the day this show is released). *Jason reads Chris Wyman's report from the Star Tours relaunch preview that he attended. *A Star Wars fan has called for the death of Luke Skywalker on her blog. She says that it is the best way to rejuvenate the EU and draw in new readers. Her reasoning is as follows: (1) The Luke of the current, post-ROTJ EU is not a well-written one. (2) He's already shown to be dead by the time of the Legacy comics (130 ABY). (3) It would cause such a stir and generate so much PR that book sales would improve. **Jimmy agrees with the claim that EU authors aren't doing a good job with Luke. He also points out that this blog post does not call for interference with G-level work. Jimmy welcomes the death of Luke Skywalker to liven up the EU, shake things up in continuity, and "take a risk." He would love for George to take over and blow all the EU away with Episodes 7-9, but until and unless that happens, he would welcome this kind of gutsy move in the EU. **Jason disagrees with all of this woman's reasons and questions her statement that Luke must be killed "in-universe and in real life." He wonders what she means by that and jokingly expresses his hope that the 501st is mobilizing to protect Mark Hamill. He says that die-hard EU fans cannot kill off a major character like Luke "just to get some ink in USA Today or to get on the couch with [The Today Show host] Matt Lauer." He says that there are other ways to generate interest in the EU. Additionally, because George Lucas's films appeal to the entire Star Wars fanbase (as opposed to just the minority that is EU fandom), Jason says that the EU must not impact the films or other G-level work "just to sell a few books." Significant quotes *''"Bring me the head of Luke Skywalker!"'' - Jimmy Mac (while discussing the call for Luke's death) Audible.com Sponsorship *Visit AudiblePodcast.com/TFN for a free audiobook download.